Friday, November 16, 2012

Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler

No country should have to endure the rocket attacks that Israel has
endured from militants in Gaza, most recently over the past four days.
The question is how to stop them permanently.

This sympathetic sounding boilerplate starts the New York Times editorial, Another Israeli-Gaza War?. The editorial continues:

On Wednesday, Israel launched one of the most ferocious assaults on
Gaza since its invasion four years ago. At least 20 targets were struck
and a Hamas military commander, Ahmed al-Jabari, was killed. Israeli
leaders also threatened another ground war.
Hamas has controlled Gaza since Israel withdrew in 2007. The group has
mostly adhered to an informal cease-fire with Israel after the war there
in the winter of 2008-09. But, in recent months, Hamas has claimed
responsibility for participating in rocket firings, and last week it
took credit for detonating a tunnel packed with explosives along the
Israel-Gaza border while Israeli soldiers were working nearby.

Actually Israel withdrew in 2005; Hamas launched a coup to expel Fatah
in 2007 and took over Gaza then. Given that even the editors admit that
in recent months Hamas has claimed credit for terror attacks against
Israel, why do they cling to the false notion that Hamas "mostly
adhered" to a ceasefire? Either one ceases fire or one doesn't. (The escalation of a few weeks ago
did not prompt an outraged editorial, leading me to conclude that the
editors of the New York Times, despite a reasonable sounding opening,
are more offended by Israel's self defense than by Hamas's terror.)

Israel has a right to defend itself, but it’s hard to see how
Wednesday’s operation could be the most effective way of advancing its
long-term interests. It has provoked new waves of condemnation against
Israel in Arab countries, including Egypt, whose cooperation is needed
to enforce the 1979 peace treaty and support stability in Sinai.

Obviously Israel deemed the threat to its citizens of rockets in Gaza to
be greater and more immediate than the threat presented the predictable
outrage of the Arab world for defending itself. Of course, the point
that the editors miss is that Egypt's failure to support stability in
the Sinai is one of the factors that emboldened Hamas.

The action also threatens to divert attention from what Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly described as Israel’s biggest
security threat: Iran’s nuclear program.

Isn't this rich? In recent months the Times has featured numerous
articles mocking Netanyahu's concern over Iran's nuclear program. Now it
takes that threat seriously, in order to criticize Netanyahu! Just
because a country faces two threats, doesn't mean it ought to ignore
one.

Engaging in a full-scale ground war is especially risky. Israel’s
last major military campaign in Gaza was a three-week blitz in 2008-09
that killed as many as 1,400 Palestinians, and it was widely condemned
internationally. It did not solve the problem. Hamas remains in control
in Gaza and has amassed even more missiles.

Yes Cast Lead was condemned. Unjustly. News accounts that exaggerated
the destruction gave cover to those making the outrageous charges
against Israel. Of those 1400, roughly half were members of Hamas
(as admitted by Hamas). It did not solve the problem, because Hamas
still controls Gaza, but it did set reduce some of Hamas's capabilities,
forcing them to rebuild. International pressure on Israel to relax the
blockade of Gaza played a major role in allowing the rebuilding. The New
York Times can be proud of the role it played in helping Hamas re-arm.

Some Israeli commentators have suggested that Mr. Netanyahu’s
decision to order the operation is connected to elections in January.
But there are other options. Israel could have asked Egypt, whose new
Islamist-led government has close ties to Hamas, to mediate a more
permanent cease-fire. On Monday, Hamas hinted that it was open to that.
Or Israel could have responded as it usually has in recent years,
avoiding high-profile assassinations while attacking rocket-launching
squads, empty training sites and weapons manufacturing plants.

As noted about, Egypt is part of the problem. By striking at leaders of
the terror war and arms caches, Israel reduced Hamas's capabilities. Do
the editors of the New York Times object to that?

Hamas is a dangerous adversary that may never accept Israel’s right
to exist. But it would be easier to win support for retaliatory action
if Israel was engaged in serious negotiations with Hamas’s rival, the
Palestinian Authority, and working toward a durable peace agreement.

Mahmoud Abbas the head of the Palestinian Authority is not welcome in
Gaza. Any deal with him will necessarily be limited. If Israel makes a
deal with him and cedes even more control, what is to prevent Hamas from
taking over on the West Bank too? Then most of Israel's population
would be under threat from Hamas. Of course that assumes that Abbas even
wants a deal. His history - including an op-ed in the New York Times
threatening to join international bodies for the purpose of initiating a
legal assault on Israel - suggests otherwise.

I would like to say that the editors of the New York Times are
exceedingly ignorant and illogical. But their regular opposition to
Israeli self-defense has to prompt the question whether they are
anti-Israel.

Israel Matzav observes that TechCrunch is unimpressed by the IDF's efforts.

To my mind, the most important numbers are 25% and (for now) 822. 25%
is the amount of Israeli territory currently under threat to Hamas
rockets. The Israel Project provided a map for the sake of comparison. 822 is the latest number of rocket attacks that Israeli has suffered from this year alone.

"We strongly condemn the barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into
southern Israel, and we regret the death and injury of innocent Israeli
and Palestinian civilians caused by the ensuing violence," State
Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement. "There is no
justification for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist
organizations are employing against the people of Israel. We call on
those responsible to stop these cowardly acts immediately. We support
Israel's right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to
take every effort to avoid civilian casualties."
Toner placed the blame for the new violence squarely on Hamas for
initiating a campaign in recent weeks that has included firing hundreds
of rockets into Israeli territory.
"Hamas claims to have the best interests of the Palestinian people at
heart, yet it continues to engage in violence that is counterproductive
to the Palestinian cause. Attacking Israel on a near daily basis does
nothing to help Palestinians in Gaza or to move the Palestinian people
any closer to achieving self determination," Toner said.

One would hope that siding with Hamas was unthinkable for the State Department.

Residents in Gaza said militants have begun firing rockets at Israeli
targets from inside teeming Gaza city, making direct Israeli strikes on
the populous city likely.

This is disappointing:

Representatives of Hamas, which Israel and the United States consider
a terrorist organization, said they also have no intention of backing
down. The assassination of Ahmed al-Jabari, the Hamas military
commander, “is a serious crime, and they crossed the red line,” said
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman. “It’s time to declare war.”

Hamas, by its ideology and actions is a terrorist organization; no "considering" is necessary.

It was the first time that a building in Kiryat Malachi had been
struck and the farthest north a projectile had landed in the current
violence. With schools closed after Wednesday’s turmoil, residents said,
many people had stayed home with their children.
Residents said people living on the lower floors of the apartment house
had taken cover in stairwells, as the police urged residents to do when
they heard warning sirens, but those on the top floor apparently had
not. Police said 180 rockets had been fired at southern Israel since
Wednesday.
In Gaza, the death toll rose to 11 as Israel pummeled what the military
described as medium- and long-range rocket and infrastructure sites and
struck rocket-launching squads. The military said it had dispersed
leaflets over Gaza warning residents to stay away from Hamas operatives
and facilities, suggesting that more was to come.

Much of the Times article deals with the damage Israel is doing to its
"fragile relations with Egypt, " without faulting the Muslim
Brotherhood. Establishing "closer ties with Hamas" is a reason that
Israel's relations with Egypt have become so fragile.

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About Me

I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-three years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 10 to 31 years and seven grandchildren. Three of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com